three passions by Bertrand Russell

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and the unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions,like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy-ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next ,because it relieves
loneliness---that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men.I have wished to know why stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagoren power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

You just blew it? Way to go!

A broken relationship, a poor grade on a project or exam, a lost job or collapsed business venture, an athletic trouncing – there are a million ways to fail. If you happen to find yourself on the losing end of a situation, we have just one thing to say: Congratulations! Whether you're responsible for a small defeat or a major flop, you're in good company and you can recover.

Beethoven, Einstein, Edison, General Douglas, MacArthur, Michael Jordan, Colonel Sanders, and Clint Eastwood are just a few of many successful failures who overcame early disappointment and scorn to accomplish great things. You can bounce back if you don't let yourself sink into frustration or despair, says Lybi Ma in the Psychology Today article "Down But Not Out", and if you remember that "A lot of good can come out of a big disappointment." Ma quotes Terri Needles, PhD, who recommends accepting the setback and the fact that you may never completely know all the reasons for it, facing your fears, and patiently thinking about your next steps. Writing for Ebony, Walter Leavey talks about Facing Your Fear of Failure. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of failure," he says, "as long as you're not overwhelmed…or paralyzed by it." And Lee Anna Jackson's advice for rebounding from career mistakes, her Black Enterprise article “Looking at It Another Way" sets the stage for success in many areas. Don't waste time regretting the past, she advises. Instead, make a list of things that tripped you up and challenge them.

Such is an letter from Q&A, for the purpose to sell a book, obviously. However, after reading these short paragraph, it seems answering the wilderment these days. As an postgraduate student encountering the final thesis, although lots of thoughts and directions, but little hope to truly give any attribution to such domain, I don't quite catch the real meaning for the final thesis, just for a doploma or the decision to do something to learn. Maybe the fear of failure makes someone to choose the easy and moderate way using C&P or the impression with popularity of plagiary gives the reason for doing this.

However from the bottom of heart, everyone with a little conscience, can tell right from wrong, and nonetheless having severe battle, finally will choose the hard route. Once the feeling of failure, such frangible confidence will crash down in the twinklingly of an eye. How many times when a person claims that he will suffer the failure will he eventually stand to the last minutes? Even everyone knows in front of the despair and disappointment, there is hopefulness and success, the most important step does he step forwards to bounce back, or just lingers besides the despair waiting for others sympathy and useless help.

The adage " look before you leap" are acknowleged to the public, but maybe it is the time to leap before you look so much. Getting out of trap of frustration, wok on it.